Press

ABSTRACT

A press tool for pressing a periphery of an aperture of a workpiece to at least partially undo deformative damage to the aperture.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a press for undoing deformative damageto a workpiece. The press of the present disclosure may be suitable forpressing small, sheet metal workpieces.

BACKGROUND

Many vehicles experience road accidents and other incidents that resultin damage to those vehicles. Since impacts occur on the outside of thevehicle it is common for the body or paneling of the vehicle to bedamaged.

Damage to the body or paneling often takes the form of a dent. Skilledpanel-beaters and technicians can repair the body or paneling byflattening the dent so that the body or panel returns substantially toits original shape.

Damage to the body or paneling is also often indicative of damage toother parts of the vehicle, such as engine mounts and other wiring andcomponent attachment points and linkages (collectively referred to as“subcomponents”). Therefore, while the aesthetics of the vehicle can berestored by repairing damage to the body or paneling, a skilledtechnician will be able to see that the vehicle has been involved in anincident by scrutinizing the subcomponents.

Subcomponents can be difficult to access and are often unable to berepaired without first being removed from the vehicle. For manysubcomponents removal requires other parts of the vehicle to be takenout or disengaged (e.g. wiring or, in some case, the engine). For thisreason, the time required to remove subcomponents often makes repair ofthe subcomponents prohibitively expensive.

It would be useful to provide a tool for repairing damage tosubcomponents.

SUMMARY

As used herein, unless context dictates otherwise:

-   -   the term ‘workpiece’ refers to any relevant component of a        vehicle that is usually located behind or within the body or        paneling of the vehicle, and upon which the press of the present        disclosure may operate to undo the visual effects of deformative        damage;    -   the term ‘deformative damage’ refers to any damage involving        plastic deformation of a workpiece away from the shape it had        when manufactured (i.e. the shape it held prior to the        deformative damage occurring).    -   to ‘undo’ deformative damage is to reshape a workpiece that has        experienced deformative damage, so that the workpiece returns at        least partially back towards the shape it had when manufactured.    -   the term “pressing operation” refers to an operation of the        press to press a workpiece.    -   the term “highly polished” refers to a surface that has been        machined, ground or otherwise polished so as to present a        smoothened surface to a workpiece during a pressing operation.

The inventor noted that it is often considerably easier to identify thata vehicle has been in an incident or accident by noting deformation toapertures (e.g. fastener holes such as bolt holes) in subcomponents thanit is to identify deformation to flat subcomponents. This is a result ofdifficulty in observing subcomponents from different angles due to theirlocations within the vehicle and thus small deviations surface flatnesscan be hard to observe. Contrastingly, since apertures, such as thosefor receiving fasteners, are typically nearly perfectly round anydistortion from a rounded shape (e.g. to an elliptical shape) can betaken as an indication that the subcomponent has been damaged.

The present disclosure provides a press for pressing a periphery of anaperture of a workpiece to at least partially undo deformative damage tothe aperture, the aperture being sized to receive a fastener, the presscomprising:

-   -   a body;    -   a connector extending from the body and adapted to project, in        use, through the aperture;    -   a first press member and an opposing, second, press member, the        first press member being located on the body and the second        press member being located on the connector and shaped to be        moved, in use, through the aperture so that the workpiece is        received between the press members; and    -   an actuator provided on the body and being operable to bring the        press members together, against opposite surfaces of the        periphery of the aperture, thereby to reshape the aperture to at        least partially undo deformative damage to the workpiece.

The press members may press the entire periphery of the aperture in asingle pressing operation. The press members may alternatively pressonly a portion of the periphery of the aperture upon operation of theactuator, wherein said portion is less than the whole of the peripheryof the aperture.

Where the press members press only a portion of the periphery of theaperture upon operation, multiple pressing operations may be performedon the aperture. Those multiple pressing operations may be performed onoverlapping portions of the periphery of the aperture.

At least one press member may be movable relative to the handle so thehandle can remain in the same position relative to the aperture whileoperation of the actuator results in different portions of the peripheryof the aperture being pressed.

The at least one press member may be rotatable relative to the handle.In this case, the different portions of the periphery of the aperturemay extend substantially radially outwardly from an axis of rotation ofthe at least one press member. The different portions may be spacedapart. The different portions may overlap. The different portions mayalign side-by-side.

The movable (e.g. rotatable) press member may be the second pressmember.

One or both press members may be highly polished. In particular, eachpress member may include a press surface and the press surface of one orboth press members may be highly polished. The press surface of bothpress members may be highly polished.

The press members may be different sizes. The press members may bedifferent shapes. One press member may be larger than the other. Onepress member may be sized to bear against the entirety of the peripheryof the aperture. The other press member may be sized to bear againstonly a portion of the periphery of the aperture, where the portion isless than the whole of the periphery.

If the other press member is sized to bear against only a portion of theperiphery, the aperture may be reshaped in two or more pressingoperations. The one press member may be the first press member and theother press member may be the second press member.

The other press member may be rotatable so as to press differentportions of the periphery of the aperture while the actuator remains ina consistent position for each of the two or more pressing operations.

The first press member may comprise a substantially cylindrical bushprojecting from the body. The bush may project perpendicularly from thebody. The bush may form a cylinder around at least a portion of theconnector. The connector may extend from both ends of the bush. The axisof the cylindrical bush and the axis of the connector may be collinear.

The first press member may taper inwardly at the end remote from thebody of the press. The inward taper may be a substantially conicaltaper. The tapered end may terminate in a press surface. The tapered endmay be frustoconical. The press surface may be highly polished.

The connector may comprise a substantially cylindrical shaft. The secondpress member may be located at one end of the shaft. The second pressmember may be releasably mounted to the shaft. The second press membermay be fixedly mounted to the shaft. The second press member may beintegrally formed with the shaft.

The connector may be movably received in the bush of the first pressmember. The connector may slide axially (e.g. longitudinally) within thefirst press member.

The press may further comprise an adjuster for changing the orientationof one press member relative to the other press member. The adjuster mayrotate said one press member. Said one press member may be the secondpress member.

The adjuster may comprise a knob. The adjuster may be located at the endof the connector opposite the second bearing member.

The adjuster may be operable to adjust the distance between the firstand second press members. In this manner, the adjuster may enable thedistance between the first and second press members to be adjusteddepending on the thickness of the workpiece.

At least one press member may comprise a flat press surface bordered bya rounded edge. The second press member may comprise a flat presssurface bordered by a rounded edge. The flat press surface may bebordered by the rounded edge and a surface of the connector.

The second press member may be shaped to be rolled through the aperture.The second press member may have a rounded rear surface to facilitaterolling the second press member through the aperture. The second pressmember may have a convex rear surface to facilitate rolling the secondpress member through the aperture. The rounded edge may delineate a lineof convergence between the flat press surface and the rear surface ofthe second press member.

The second press member may be substantially hook-shaped.

The present disclosure also provides a method for reshaping an aperture,the aperture being sized to receive a fastener, the method comprising:

-   -   inserting one of two press members of a press through the        aperture so that a first portion of the periphery of the        aperture is located between the two press members;    -   actuating an actuator of the press to press the first portion of        the periphery of the aperture; and    -   rotating one of the press members relative to the other press        member to receive a second portion of the periphery of the        aperture between the press members.

The method may further comprise actuating the actuator to press thesecond portion of the periphery of the aperture.

The inserting step may comprise rolling said one of two press membersthrough the aperture.

The press may comprise an adjuster and the rotating step may beperformed by rotating the adjuster to adjust the orientation of one ofthe press members relative to the other press member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The press of the present disclosure will now be described by way ofnon-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial side perspective view of a press in accordance withthe present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of an illustrative workpiece uponwhich the press of FIG. 1 may operate to restore or reshape theworkpiece at least part way back to its original, manufactured shape;and

FIG. 3 is a close-up view of an aperture, showing examples of portionsof the periphery of the aperture that could be pressed with a series ofpressing operations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In recognising of the ease with which damage to an aperture can beassessed, the present inventor devised a press 10 as shown in FIG. 1 forpressing the periphery 12 of a fastener aperture 14 of a workpiece 16 toundo deformative damage to the aperture 14. The periphery 12 isindicated as the region generally between the edge of the aperture 14and the broken line as shown in FIG. 2.

The term ‘fastener aperture’ is intended to mean an aperture sized forreceiving a fastener.

The press 10 comprises a body 18, a connector 20, a first press member22, a second press member 24 and an actuator 26.

The body 18 comprises a handle 28 by which an operator grasps the press10, and the actuator 26 is pivotally connected by a pivot 30 near an end32 of the body 18.

The actuator 26 extends in one direction from the pivot 30 to a pin 34.The pin 34 couples the actuator 26 with the connector 20.

The actuator 26 also extends in the opposite direction from the pivot 30towards a grip (not shown). The grip (not shown) is squeezed togetherwith handle 28 in order to bring the press members 22, 24 togetheragainst opposite surfaces of the periphery 12 of the aperture 14. In sodoing, the actuator 26 is operable to press and thereby reshape theaperture 14 to at least partially undo deformative damage to theworkpiece 16.

The shape and arrangement of the body 18 and actuator 26 of the deviceshown in FIG. 1 are similar to comparable handle components of a manualrivet gun. Accordingly, these components will be understood by theskilled person and need not be described herein in any greater detail.

The first press member 22 extends substantially perpendicularly awayfrom the body 18. The first press member 22 comprises a substantiallycylindrical bush that tapers inwardly at the end 36, being the end thatis remote from the body 18.

When the actuator 26 is operated, press members 22 and 24 are broughttogether to press against opposite sides of a workpiece 16. The pressforce applied by the press members 22 and 24 to the workpiece 16 can besubstantial. Consequently, any roughness in the surfaces of the pressmembers 22 and 24 can score or mar the workpiece 16.

To reduce the likelihood of scoring or marring the workpiece 16, thetapered end 36 terminates in a highly polished press surface 38.

In order to press a workpiece 16, the first and second press members 22,24 move relative to one another. To facilitate this movement, the secondpress member 24 is integrally formed on the end of the connector 20 andthe connector 20 is movable relative to the first press member 22 tomove the second press member 24 relative to the first press member 22.

The connector 20 is, in effect, a cylindrical shaft extending between anadjuster 40 and the second press member 24. The connector 20 isconnected with the actuator 26 through a pin 34 to convert angular orpivoting movement of the actuator 26 into linear movement of theconnector 20.

In the present embodiment, the connector 20 extends from the body 18axially through the cylindrical bush of the first press member 22. Theconnector 20 is adapted to slide along its axis 42 within thecylindrical bush of the first press member 22 thereby to move the secondpress member 24 towards and away from the first press member 22 withmovements of the actuator 26. Incidentally the axis of rotation 42 ofthe connector 20 is also the axis of rotation of the second press member24.

In use, the connector 20 projects from the body 18 through the fasteneraperture 14 in the workpiece 16. In so doing, it locates the secondpress member 24 on the opposite side of the workpiece 16 to the firstpress member 22.

The second press member 24 comprises a highly polished, flat presssurface 44 that bears against the workpiece 16 on the opposite sidethereof to the highly polished surface 38 of the first press member 22.

The press surface 44 of the second press member 24 is bordered by arounded edge 45 that defines a line of convergence between the presssurface 44 and a convex rear surface 46 of the second press member 24.The press surface 44 is also bordered by a line of intersection 47between the press surface 44 and the connector 20. The edge 45 of thepress surface 44 is rounded to ensure the press surface 44 does notscore the workpiece 16 during pressing operations.

The rear surface 46 of the second press member 24 is shaped to be moved,in use, through the aperture 14. In this regard, the rear surface 46 hasa convex, rounded shape to enable the second press member 24 to be“rolled” through the aperture 14.

The term “rolled” describes a process wherein:

-   -   the axis of the first press member 22 is at a non-perpendicular        angle to the plane of the workpiece 16;    -   the point of the second press member 24—the ‘point’ being the        part of the second press member 24 at which the faces 44, 46        converge away from the connector 20—is inserted through the        aperture 14; and    -   the press 10 is rotated to bring the first press member into a        substantially perpendicular position relative to the plane of        the workpiece 16 and, in so doing, the remainder of the second        press member ‘rolls’ through the aperture 14.

Accordingly, in general use of the press 10 of the present disclosurethe skilled person would reshape a fastener aperture 14 by:

-   -   inserting one of two press members (presently second press        member 24) of a press through an aperture so that a first        portion of the periphery of the aperture is located between the        two press members (an example of a first portion 55 i is shown        in FIG. 3);    -   actuating an actuator of the press to press the first portion of        the periphery of the aperture; and    -   rotating one of the press members relative to the other press        member to receive a second portion of the periphery of the        aperture between the press members.

The second (and subsequent) portions of the periphery of the aperture 14are illustrated by numerals 55 ii-55 iv in FIG. 3, and can besequentially pressed by a series of pressing operations. With referenceto the workpiece 16 in FIGS. 2 and 3, a sufficient amount of theperiphery 12 of the aperture 14 will ultimately be pressed by the seriesof pressing operations to reshape the aperture 14 so that it looks asthough it has not experienced deformative damage.

As mentioned above, the press members 22, 24 interact (i.e. moverelative to one another) to press a workpiece 16 therebetween. Ingeneral, the second press member 24 will pull the periphery 12 of theaperture 14 towards the press surface 38 of the first press member 22 inthe direction indicated by arrow X in FIG. 2. In so doing, the press 10will draw the workpiece 16 from the deformed condition shown in solidlines in FIG. 2 at least partially back towards the original conditionof the workpiece 16 as indicated in broken lines (reference numeral 48)in FIG. 2.

In order to fit through an aperture 14, the second press member 24 ofthe present example is necessarily shaped in a manner that will preventit from pressing the entirety of the periphery 12 in a single pressingoperation. Contrastingly, the flat press surface 38 of the first pressmember 22 is sized to bear against the entirety of the periphery 12 ofthe aperture 14. In other words, the press a surface 38 is at leastmarginally larger in diameter than the diameter of the aperture 14. Thepress surface 38 may in fact have the same diameter as the periphery 12of the aperture 14, or may even have a larger diameter than theperiphery 12 of the aperture 14.

Since the second press member 24 is smaller than the aperture 14, itcannot press the entirety of the periphery 12 of the aperture 14 in asingle pressing operation. The press members 22, 24 thus only press aportion (less than the whole) of the periphery 12 of the aperture 14upon operation of the actuator 26.

Two or more pressing operations are therefore necessary to press theentirety of the periphery 12 of the aperture 14. So that the secondpress member 24 does not continue to press the same portion of theperiphery 12, the operator of the press 10 may rotate the press 10 so asto bring a different portion of the periphery 12 in between the firstand second press members 22, 24.

In some cases, such as when working under the bonnet of a car, there isinsufficient room to rotate the handle 28 of the press 10. It is alsooften easier to operate the actuator 26 when it is in a consistentposition relative to the aperture 14 for all pressing operationsperformed on the aperture 14. To facilitate pressing of the entirety ofthe periphery 12 in these circumstances, the connector 20, andconsequently the second press member 24 that is integrally formed on theend of the connector 20, are rotatable relative to the actuator 26 andthe first press member 22.

In order to more clearly illustrate the effect of deformative damage,FIG. 2 shows an undamaged aperture 50 as well as deformed apertures 14,52, 54. A skilled technician will realise that aperture 14 has beendeformed since it has a generally elliptical shape rather than asubstantially circular shape such as that of aperture 50. By returningaperture 14—and similarly, apertures 52 and 54—back to a circular shape,the operator of the press 10 will similarly reshape the workpiece 16back towards its original manufactured condition 48.

It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred toherein, such reference does not constitute an admission that thepublication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, inAustralia or any other country.

In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of theinvention, except where the context requires otherwise due to expresslanguage or necessary implication, the word “comprise” or variationssuch as “comprises” or “comprising” is used in an inclusive sense, i.e.to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude thepresence or addition of further features in various embodiments of theinvention.

1. A press for pressing a periphery of an aperture of a workpiece to atleast partially undo deformative damage to the aperture, the aperturebeing sized to receive a fastener, the press comprising: a body; aconnector extending from the body and adapted to project, in use,through the aperture; a first press member and an opposing, second,press member, the first press member being located on the body and thesecond press member being located on the connector and shaped to bemoved, in use, through the aperture so that the workpiece is receivedbetween the press members; and an actuator provided on the body andbeing operable to bring the press members together, against oppositesurfaces of the periphery of the aperture, thereby to reshape theaperture to at least partially undo deformative damage to the workpiece.2. A press according to claim 1, wherein the press members press only aportion of the periphery of the aperture upon operation of the actuator,wherein said portion is less than the whole of the periphery of theaperture.
 3. A press according to claim 1, wherein one press member isrotatable relative to the other press member.
 4. A press according toclaim 2, wherein at least one press member is rotatable relative to theactuator.
 5. A press according to claim 4, wherein the at least onerotatable press member is the second press member.
 6. A press accordingto claim 1, wherein one or both press members are highly polished.
 7. Apress according to claim 1, wherein at least one press member comprisesa flat press surface bordered by a rounded edge.
 8. A press according toclaim 7, wherein the second press member comprises a flat press surfacebordered by a rounded edge.
 9. A press according to claim 1, wherein onepress member is sized to bear against the entirety of the periphery ofthe aperture and the other press member is comparatively smaller in sizeso that the aperture is reshaped in two or more pressing operations. 10.A press according to claim 9, wherein the one press member is the firstpress member and the other press member is the second press member. 11.A press according to claim 9, wherein the other press member isrotatable so as to press different portions of the periphery of theaperture while the actuator remains in a consistent position for each ofthe two or more pressing operations.
 12. A press according to claim 1,wherein the second press member is shaped to be rolled through theaperture.
 13. A press according to claim 12, wherein the second pressmember has a rounded rear surface to facilitate rolling the second pressmember through the aperture.
 14. A press according to claim 1, furthercomprising an adjuster for changing the orientation of one press memberrelative to the other press member.
 15. A press according to claim 14,wherein the adjuster rotates said one press member.
 16. A pressaccording to claim 14, wherein said one press member is the second pressmember.
 17. A method for reshaping an aperture, the aperture being sizedto receive a fastener, the method comprising: inserting one of two pressmembers of a press through the aperture so that a first portion of theperiphery of the aperture is located between the two press members;actuating an actuator of the press to press the first portion of theperiphery of the aperture; and rotating one of the press membersrelative to the other press member to receive a second portion of theperiphery of the aperture between the press members.
 18. A methodaccording to claim 17, further comprising actuating the actuator topress the second portion of the periphery of the aperture.
 19. A methodaccording to claim 17, wherein the inserting step comprises rolling saidone of two press members through the aperture.